Figure 1
Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in patients with loop grafts. (a) Patient with brachio-cephalic loop graft with focal stenosis (arrow) at arterial anastomosis without thrombosis. Percutaneous balloon angioplasty was performed with one single puncture at apex. The total procedure time was 24 minutes. (b) Patient with brachio-cephalic loop graft with multifocal thromboses (arrow) in graft. Aspiration thrombectomy and balloon angioplasty was performed with single puncture at apex. The total procedure time was 33 minutes.
Figure 2
Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in patients with loop graft. (a) Patient with radio-cephalic straight graft with focal stenosis (arrow) at venous anastomosis without thrombosis. Percutaneous balloon angioplasty was performed with one single puncture. The total procedure time was 18 minutes. (b) Patient with radio-cephalic straight graft with multifocal thrombosis (arrow) in graft. Additional puncture was done for the opposite side of the direction for aspiration thrombectomy and balloon angioplasty. The total procedure time was 50 minutes.
Table 1
Types of forearm arteriovenous graft in 66 patients.
| Type of graft | Number | Number of patients with stenosis only | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loop graft | Brachio-antecubital | 10 | 2 |
| Brachio-basilic | 7 | 1 | |
| Brachio-cephalic | 12 | 3 | |
| Radio-antecubital | 1 | 0 | |
| Radio-basilic | 3 | 1 | |
| Radio-cephalic | 5 | 1 | |
| Total | 38 | 8 | |
| Straight graft | Radio-antecubital | 5 | 1 |
| Radio-basilic | 11 | 1 | |
| Radio-cephalic | 12 | 2 | |
| Total | 28 | 4 |
Table 2
Characteristics of thrombosis and stenotic lesions in graft.
| Thrombosis | Stenosis only | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loop | Straight | Total | Loop | Straight | Total | ||
| Sites of stenosis | Venous anastomosis | 28 | 22 | 50 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| Draining vein | 7 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Graft | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sites of thrombi | Graft | 30 (1) | 24 (2) | 54 (3) | |||
| Draining vein | 4 | 2 | 6 | ||||
[i] Note: Data in parentheses is number of patients without stenosis.
Table 3
Technical success rate and mean procedure time of patients.
| Overall | Loop | Straight | p-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Technical success rate | 63/66 (95.5%) | 37/38 (97.3%) | 26/28 (92.9%) | 0.426 |
| Mean procedure time (minutes) | 48.00 | 45.24 | 51.85 | 0.217 | |
| Stenosis only | Technical success rate | 12/12 (100%) | 8/8 (100%) | 4/4 (100%) | 1.000 |
| Mean procedure time (minutes) | 36.00 | 38.25 | 32.25 | 0.610 | |
| Combined thrombosis | Technical success rate | 51/54 (94%) | 29/30 (96.7%) | 22/24 (91.7%) | 0.220 |
| Mean procedure time (minutes) | 50.67 | 47.10 | 55.10 | 0.170 |
[i] Note: Data in parentheses is percentage.
Figure 3
Kaplan-Meier curve showing primary patency of loop and straight grafts.
Figure 4
Kaplan-Meier curve showing assisted primary patency of loop and straight grafts.